Nick Baumgardner

Munataka Murakami?

He is the number one storyline for me for the Chicago White Sox this season.

They were fortunate, had the market come back to them, and were able to land one of the bigger free agents on this year's free agent market in Munataka Murakami.

I'm very fascinated because I think he...

was maybe the most polarizing of free agents this offseason, this past winter, because of the big-time power that he has that you saw.

He had 56 home runs as a 23-year-old in Japan.

That also comes with a lot of swing and miss, right?

The bat to ball isn't necessarily there, where—

That was a part of his game in Japan.

And it's not necessarily going to get easier once you get to the States when you're talking about the best starting pitching, the best relief pitching in the world, seeing triple digits coming out of the bullpen every night, breaking stuff that some of these dudes have, sweepers and sliders and splitters, et cetera.

So I'm very curious to see how Munotaka Murakami adjusts to Major League starting pitching.

I'm not going to put some...

Big time number.

I think 55 homers is pretty excessive.

What about 40?

I think 40 is a big ask.

It's a big ask, but I think it's doable.

It would be the most homers a Japanese player has ever hit in their first season in the big leagues.

What about 200 strikeouts?

Is that a big ask?